LAST UPDATED ON JAN. 13, 2024 AT 7:50 AM | 6 MINUTE READ
How much money can you save on an NFL game?
73% on average, if you’re going to buy a stadium parking pass.
Alternately, it could be considerably more if you opt for offsite parking.
How do we figure this?
Firstly, the amount that a family of 4 spends on a single NFL game is referred to as the Fan Cost Index.
Fan Cost Index, or FCI, is a price benchmark created by Team Marketing Report. Specifically, it includes the costs of:
- 4 NFL average price tickets,
- 2 beers,
- 4 soft drinks,
- 4 hot dogs,
- 2 caps, and
- a stadium parking pass.
FCI is calculated using face value costs of tickets and parking. However, on this site we use secondary market prices as the standard. As such, the (real) FCI for 2023 is $1,966.
Typically, you can save $1,386 on NFL tickets and another $109 on parking, as outlined here and here. The total of $1,495 is the average savings for fans overall.
However, in order to find out what you’d save specifically for your team, you need to learn a bit more about…
Real Fan Cost Index
Teammarketing.com’s FCI of $632 is misleading for most NFL fans, given that it uses face value prices.
Because if you don’t know by now, The Average Fan Has No Chance At Buying NFL Tickets At Face Value.
Therefore, if we substitute secondary market costs* for face value, $632 becomes $1,966.
Quite a difference, indeed.
Given that the majority of fans rely on the secondary market, you can say that $1,966 is the de facto, or real FCI.
Now if the real Fan Cost Index is making your head spin, it’s important to realize that it doesn’t tell the entire story. Reason being, the cost of living varies from state to state, & city to city.
That is to say, a $60K salary goes a lot farther in Minneapolis, for example, than it does in San Francisco.
In other words, it’s all relative. Which brings us to…
Relative Fan Cost Index for an NFL game
Relative FCI, simply, is the percentage of monthly income required to attend a single NFL game.
That is, it’s the real FCI divided by monthly salary. In many respects, it’s a truer measure of the impact of total fan expenditures.
To demonstrate, we’ll use the real FCIs for 2 teams – the LA Rams & the Cleveland Browns. At $1,490 & $1,470, respectively, they’re quite similar. What’s not similar is the median monthly income of the two areas.
As a result, the cost of an NFL game in Cleveland is 35% (of monthly income*), as opposed to 28% in Los Angeles.
See how much of your paycheck it takes for you & your family to go to an NFL game:
So what?!?!
So, this: spending $632 for one game – about 11% of your monthly salary – for a family of 4, is manageable.
On the other hand, two grand (36%), for many, is not.
To emphasize, here’s how real FCI compares to some typical expenses:
- $2,567 – average Super Bowl ticket price (2014).
- $1,164¹ – average gross monthly rent in the U.S. (2019).
- $1,385² – monthly cost of USDA liberal food plan (2021)
- ¹ deptofnumbers.com ² azureedge.net
Moreover, it gets worse. For the second consecutive year, real FCI exceeds median U.S. household weekly income:
Additionally, here’s a slightly different view:
Note: if you noticed a discrepancy in the income data between the 2 visualizations, then you’ve been paying attention. Notably, the figures from census.gov are about 9.5% higher. However, we use the deptofnumbers.com for our FCI projections because their site provides more granular data when it comes to US states.
I-NFL-ation
Ah yes, the loathsome ‘I” word.
Inflation is a major concern these days amongst Americans, and with good reason. According to a CBS News poll, 76% feel their incomes aren’t keeping pace with inflation.
Thus far, we’ve compared income in the U.S. against real FCI and inflation. Unsurprisingly, the average income is being outpaced. With this in mind, how then does real FCI compare to inflation?
To demonstrate, we’ll examine the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is the most well-known indicator of inflation. Specifically, we’re going to focus on the CPI’s rate of increase since 2016 as it compares to real FCI over the same period:
Yikes!!
“How much?! I’ll just watch the game on TV!”
In light of all of this dreary data, it may seem like I’m pouring gas on the fire. On the contrary.
Certainly, high prices are a problem for the average NFL fan. And you’re not going to circumvent – let’s face it, you can’t solve inflation – a problem until it’s highlighted. A point often overlooked is that while soaring costs aren’t good for the consumer, it does offer greater opportunity to save money.
In other words, turn this negative into a positive. Because I’m sure that many NFL fans will agree with the following sentiment…
Attending an NFL game is priceless
Don’t deprive yourself of a potentially “priceless” experience.
If you’re too young to remember those old Mastercard commercials, let me enlighten you:
Then again, there are but a few priceless moments in life. Although a football game isn’t on the same level as a wedding or birth of a child, it can be memorable if done right.
In particular, “done right” includes a cost that is reasonable. That is to say, there’s little sense in overspending to the point that it diminishes your enjoyment.
That being said, you can cut the real FCI in half by:
- Biding Your Time When It Comes To Buying NFL Tickets, and
- Taking advantage of the cheapest NFL ticket site.
By doing these 2 things, you could, for example, save as much as:
- $1,808* (58%) on a New England Patriots game
- $1,987* (64%) on a Tampa Bay Bucs game
- *Based on cheapest available non-SRO tickets & stadium parking pass
Summary
- On average, a family of 4 can save up to $1,495 (73%) on a single NFL game.
- That figure can be as little as $644 or as much as $4,997, based on a team’s real FCI.
- The average savings amount equates to monthly food or rent for a family of 4.
- The money saved is even more significant when you factor in the relative cost index.
- You can reduce your real FCI even more by opting for offsite instead of stadium parking.